1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of informing of support of zone-based service and related communication device, and more particularly, to a method of informing of support of zone-based service and related communication device in a personal network gateway.
2. Description of the Prior Art
More and more users connect their electronic devices to small range Personal Network (PN), such as a home network, an in-car network and a body area network. Connection between the PN and other networks expands access ability of electronic devices or a Personal Network Entity (PNE) of the PN and realizes many services, such as using PNE outside of PN to access various services. For example, a personal media player connected to the Bluetooth network can receive video contents from the Internet via a cellular phone connecting to the Wide Area Network (WAN).
Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is the focal point for the development of mobile service enabler specifications, which supports the creation of interoperable end-to-end mobile services. OMA drives service enabler architectures and open enabler interfaces that are independent of the underlying wireless networks and platforms. OMA creates interoperable mobile data service enablers that work across mobile devices, service providers, networks, geography and telecommunication firms.
Furthermore, in the communication protocol of OMA, Converged Personal Network Services (CPNS) server, Personal Network Gateway and PNE form a basic architecture of the CPNS. The CPNS server is a CPNS enabler entity, which replies requests from a Personal Network Gateway (PNGW) and ensures that appropriate applications are selected and appropriate contents are provided to the PNEs.
The PNGW serves as an intermediary entity between the PNEs and other networks that forwards the requests and the responses between the PNEs and the other networks. Besides, the PNEs are connected to the PNGW and between each other, and are used for rendering the contents received from the PNGW or from each other.
Other than the PNGW, the Zone Personal Network Gateway (Zone PNGW) is used for providing better service efficiency. In the CPNS, zone means the geographic area which is related to signalings of physical carriers, service providers, or users. The basic Zone PNGW periodically searches for a confined zone to find out whether there exists a new PNE just entering from the outer PN. Next, the Zone PNGW broadcasts a message to the new PNE to inform of existence of the PNGW and to provide related services to the new PNE, otherwise, the new PNE must spend more time searching for specific services provided by the Zone PNGW if there is no action of pre-informing of the existence of the Zone PNGW.